High-voltage spark-arrester.



No. 807,277. PATENTED DEC. 12, 1905.

' F. JORDAN.

HIGH VOLTAGE SPARK ARRESTBR. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 6. 1 904.

ITED STATES PATENT- OFFICE.

FRITZ JORDAN, OF FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO SOCIETY OF ELEKTRIZITATS-AKTIEN-GESELLSOHAFT VORM. W. LAH- MEYER & 00., OF FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN, GERMANY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 12, 1905.

Application filed January 6, 1904:- Serial No. 187.943.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRITZ JORDAN, a sub ject of the German Emperor, residing and having my post-office address at Mainzerlandstrasse 90, Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in High-Voltage Spark-Arresters, of which the following is a specification..

This invention has for its object the improved construction of high-voltage sparkarresters in which conductors or electrodes are employed, the said conductors or electrodes being so formed that when the hightension spark springs between them the distance between the said electrodes at this point remains the same.

Figure 1 is an elevation of an apparatus embodying my invention. Fig. 2 shows the effect of the passage of a spark where metal electrodes are employed. Fig. 3 is a similar view. where carbon electrodes are employed, and Fig. 4 illustrates the result of the employment of one carbon electrode and a metal electrode according to my invention.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, A and B are two conductors or electrodes which may be parallel to each other or inclined toward each other, one of which two conductors is connected with the line to be protected by means of intermediate high re- 7 sistances E, the other of said conductors being connected to earth, and the two said conductors are provided at their upper ends with the well-known horn-shaped appendages O D, Fig. 1. The bars are so arranged in guides that they can be placed at any distance from or inclined toward each other. If the electric pressure existing between the two conductors A and B exceeds a predetermined value, the spark jumps between the two conductors and the heat resulting from it will cause the spark to move upward and become extinguished as it climbs along the said conductors A and B. As the resistance E, connected to the high-tension safety device, does not allow the passage of any appreciable current, the upward motion of the spark is produced solely by the heat generated and progresses slowly, so that the spark is ordinarily extinguished before it reaches the horns or proj ections O and D. These proj ections are provided only for the sake of increased safety and do not come into action in normal working.

If the conductors A and B be .made of metal, it might happen that when a spark jumps across them pearls of fused metal are formed, and the distance between the said electrodes is therefore reduced, so that successive sparks would be formed under pressures which would vary from the one for which the apparatus was originally constructed, so that the apparatus would be unreliable. The present invention overcomes this serious drawback by taking advantage of the fact that when a spark is formed pearls of fused metal are formed at the surface of the metal electrodes, Whereas depressions are formed on electrodes of carbon under similar circumstances. According to' this invention, therefore, one of the electrodes is of carbon and the other of metal. For a pearl of fused metal formed on the metal electrode there is a corresponding depression on the carbon electrode, the depression being exactly opposite the pearl of molten metal. Thusthe distance between the electrodes remains unaltered at the parts of the electrodes between which the spark has struck, and this is clearly shown in Fig. 4:.

Fi 2 relates to a whic both electrodes are of metal. Pearls of fused metal are formed at the points between which the spark jumps, and the space between the electrodes is reduced.

In Fig. 3 the electrodes are supposed to be of carbon, an arrangement which is also known. In this case the distance between the electrodes is increased by the depression formed by the passage of a spark between them.

Fig. 4 shows the combination of an electrode of metal with an electrode of carbon. To the formation of molten metal on the metal electrode corresponds a depression on the carbon electrode, so that the distance apart of the electrodes remains the same along their whole length.

The electrodes A and B may be 'of any suitable cross-section.

I claim A high-voltage spark-arrester comprising two vertically-disposed bars placed at a distance from each other, and presenting their sides as electrodes to each other, one of the known safety device in 1 In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRITZ JORDAN.

Witnesses:

ERWIN DIPPEL, JEAN GRUND. 

